Having had issues with a backup and restore I have now reviewed how I useTB! and have a couple of technical queries. I currently have a vast database of e-mails and attachments going back several years in my The Bat! directories. I am wondering if I can cause a standalone copy of TB! to run an archive of read only message and attachments direct from a DVD, memory stick, or an external drive, so if I need to refer to an aged e-mail with attachment I can do so easily, without having a huge database of e-mail and attachments stored on my main PC or laptop? If this is possible, how would I do this please?

Finally, how would I delete messages and attachments on my current intstallation going back to before a given date, given the attachments are stored in a seperate directory under the main The Bat! directory, not with the messages themselves? I am sure a deletion based on a dates "up to", or "after" is possible, but I haven't figured it out yet. Thanks.

theBat has an undocumented /Reg: switch - using it, you can start the program with different settings - in your case a different mail folderNormally theBat uses registry settings fr om HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\RIT\The Bat! If you start it like thebat.exe /Reg:archive(it's easy to create a shortcut for this) then it will use the settings fr om HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\RIT\The Bat!archive

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\RIT\The Bat!archive is a key you have to create, initially it should be an exact copy of HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\RIT\The Bat! Then simply change the "Working Directory" value under the newly created key to point to the folder where your archive is.Needless to say, if you use an external drive it should be mounted prior to starting theBat with /Reg: switch , and should be always mounted as the same drive letter.But with hard disk space being so cheap these days, I doubt the above makes sense - you can simply keep your archive on HDD.

About deletion of old messages, you can make a filter with a condition like Date of reception - is before - [some date]and action like Move the message to folder [some folder]In filter options set it should be used for manual re-filtering only, then re-filter desired folders (right click -> Re-filter) - old messages will go to the specified folder. Then you may delete that folder from theBat - right click on it -> Delete -> select Wipe - this will delete theBat folder and the associated msg base file.

PLEASE NOTE: I use an old version - 3.85. Some of the above may not be applicable to newer versions, though I doubt. To be on the safe side, before doing anything make a full backup of your mail folder with WinRAR or another archiver.I have never stored attachments separately. To delete old attachments, you may simply sort the folder wh ere they are stored by date (in Windows Explorer, when theBat is closed) and then delete what has to be deleted. I have no idea how filters process separately stored attachments.

Thanks again bigg one, that's very interesting and sounds like it will do the job. I'll have a play with this over the holiday weekend, many thanks for such a clear and detailed description, but I'll be sure to do a proper backup first! All the best, cheers!